Picture This' blog offers professional advice, opinions, humor, expertise and personality on a variety of topics. Our intent is to share valuable information (for free) to anyone interested in expanding their understanding of the internet and all of the tools/methods available to promote recognition of a product or service to the world.

Recent Comments

"This is a really interesting post, and one a lot of folks should consider when revealing their entire lives to Facebook. I saw this article on Friday May 20th, 2010 - in the Economist magazine.
"Executives at Facebook met to decide whether they should simplify the 170 privacy options on the social-networking website amid growing unease about the public availability of users’ personal information."
Here is a link to the full article.
http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16167766 "Read more
by Neil
on Facebook - Is Your Privacy At Risk?

Bloggers

Business Blog Bling

Here’s a term that was popularized in the hip hop culture – bling. For those of you who don’t know what bling is, here’s a short definition: Bling refers to elaborate or flashy jewelry that is worn as an indication of wealth or status. It could be something like long chains made of gold, silver or platinum with the addition of some diamonds or other precious stones. Usually very ornate, bling attire is worn to make a statement of style.

Does your website have a business blog? Business blogging gives your company a powerful way to communicate to prospects, customers or people who want to learn more information about your company’s products and services. Anyone from the CEO to the Marketing Department to Research and Development can share their expertise, analysis or forecasts with a very large audience on the internet (visualize anyone in the world with a computer and internet access). An RSS feed can be added to your business blog so that someone can subscribe and get current information delivered to their RSS Feed Reader as soon as a new post is added to the blog. See our previous blog posting - What is an RSS Feed, and How Can You Use One to Your Advantage?

Whatever you decide to do, there are numerous ways to “dress up” your blog. Blogging is a great way to build your brand, share your expertise and drive traffic to your website. If you are already business blogging, kudos to you!! What I want to share with you today is to how to put a little “BLING” in your blog.

Let’s start with the design of the template or CSS stylesheet. Make sure your colors are aesthetically pleasing. There are many websites and blog services that have stock templates and CSS stylesheets to choose from for your business blog. If your budget allows, you may consider having a professional graphic designer help with the design. This is very important!!

Don’t forget to smile! – adding a smiley face can put a little fun into your blog posting. There are many styles to choose from. Just do a search and use them as you deem necessary.

Graphics such as colorful images can be added to give some added effect to your blog. Make sure they are consistent with the content of the blog posting. Edge effects can be added but make sure the placement of the graphic flows with the verbiage. Be cognizant of image’s size and width.

Another technique is using enlarged and colored fonts. Using bold letters will draw people’s eyes immediately as well as writing in Italics. Using different colored fonts is a way of accessorizing your words.

Adding icons, badges and buttons are a good way to show respect for different organizations or groups that your company supports.

Adding a short video into or even a link to a video, can “jazz up” your blog posting by giving it some movement and aesthetic appeal.

Some bloggers have even been known to add a podcast or “audio file” to a blog posting. Its one thing to read what someone has to write, but listening to the blogger’s voice may be an appealing change of pace from reading a blog post.

Do you want to get a little more mileage for your blog? Add a social bookmarking website link. Consider using this option (occasionally) to only your best blog posts so that anyone who is impressed by the posting can immediately post it to one of the many social bookmarking sites. There are many to choose from and the link would look something similar to this:

If you are having trouble coming up with something to blog about, consider using your blog to:

Communicate a new product/service announcement (make sure you are not doing a sales pitch)

Mix in a press release about your company

Publicize something from R&D

Write about positive feedback from a customer/client

Talk about Charities and Non-Profits that you are passionate about

People overwhelmingly prefer to do business with others they know and like. Keep your business blog professional and avoid topics that may be controversial or ones you wouldn’t discuss at church in a mixed crowd. A business blog will not solve your business problems, make you a millionaire or get you a date with a famous Hollywood actor (unless you are REALLY lucky). However, it will add a new feature to your website, strengthen your overall business strategy and create new relationships with your readers as well as reinforce existing relationships.

So, back to my original point; what is your blog wearing? Does it look like casual, business casual or professional (Think blue jeans, khakis or Italian suit)? Put a little “bling” into whichever type of business blog you have and you may notice increased readership, more comments and even more sales of your products/services. Well, what are you waiting on?